Baffling music selections on KOLA

[davideduardo]

And all of this refutes my point how? How are those other places more like LA then Bakersfield? And I never said ALL places, I said most. The original point was really a throwaway observation, but it you're going to argue the finer details of a rather self-obvious point...

The principal difference is that that area in central CA is predominantly based on agriculture and more than half recent generation (1st to 3rd) Hispanics. No other area in the US is like that. The Hispanics in San Antonio, Albuquerque, El Paso and the LRGV are much later generation Hispanics.

The closest we have to that 1st to 3rd generation Hispanic population centers are New York City and Miami, but neither are agricultural and the population origins are very different in everything from language to education levels to employment; 2/3 of the bank VPs and above in Miami-Dade are Hispanic!

 

[asugeorge1]

When I was a kid (circa 1991), the oldies station played 50s and 60s, with an occasional 70s track.

So here we are, 2021 (30 years later), and KOLA plays (50+30)=80s and (60+30)=90s, with an occasional (70+30)=00s track.

Does it bother me to hear Three Doors Down "Kryptonite" (a high-school jam of mine) on the "oldies" station? Certainly. But that's not KOLA's problem, that's my unwillingness to accept that I'm getting older. As an aside, KOLA really isn't oldies anyway. More a Hot AC playing a lot of recurrents.

I think your last point is what I have been harping on: KOLA is not really a classic hits station. Their musical playlist reminds me more of a HOT AC or AC station. I think they would be better situated with a moniker of MIX 99.9 if they are truly going to play Lady Gaga, Neon Trees and other songs that are only 10-12 years old. To each their own I guess!

 

[victorres43]

I think your last point is what I have been harping on: KOLA is not really a classic hits station. Their musical playlist reminds me more of a HOT AC or AC station. I think they would be better situated with a moniker of MIX 99.9 if they are truly going to play Lady Gaga, Neon Trees and other songs that are only 10-12 years old. To each their own I guess!

But to be an AC, they have to play a handful of currents or recurrents, which KOLA doesn't even do. Hot AC is more heavy on currents and recurrents, although not as much as CHR. So I still stand that KOLA is Adult Hits; you can't play Santeria and Calilfornication (which weren't big pop hits) and still be considered Classic Hits in actuality.

 

[davideduardo]

They certainly sound more like an adult hits station a la 95.7 The Spot in Houston than a full-fledged classic hits station like CBS-FM in New York or Q105 in Tampa.

The Spot had the advantage of being able to straddle two formats, adopting part of the high TSL capability of Classic Hits and the more contemporary positioning and image of adult hits. This adaptation has the potential to age better than pure classic hits which runs into the shortage of playable 90's songs as they try to keep a consistent 35-54 target. Adult hits can be a bit broader and thus not as stressed by periods of years with little playable music.

 

[davideduardo]

But to be an AC, they have to play a handful of currents or recurrents, which KOLA doesn't even do. Hot AC is more heavy on currents and recurrents, although not as much as CHR. So I still stand that KOLA is Adult Hits; you can't play Santeria and Calilfornication (which weren't big pop hits) and still be considered Classic Hits in actuality.

"Classic Hits" is whatever the market's larger group of potential listeners says it is. There is a fuzzy area between format names and definitions where one can be either of two alternatives; often the difference is more in the talent, the imaging and the rotations than the music itself.

This is sort of like the distinction between CHR and Churban; how many hip hop and rhythmic songs does a CHR have to play to be suddenly considered Churban? So, where does a station stop being classic hits and begin being adult hits?

Why do you say you are CHR? Because I said so.

Agencies and buyers don't sit around saying, "Oh, let's not buy that station because it is more rhythmic..." They buy based on target audience delivery.

 

[asugeorge1]

That's true, though almost no place is generic.

If you want to talk about weird cities, I'm from Salt Lake City. It's like really really white, some Hispanic, but with a surprisingly high percentage of pacific islanders (Tongan and Samoan immigrants). Almost no African-Americans. And a religion deeply influences half of the market's listeners.

Is SLC more comparable to Bakersfield or Los Angeles or the Inland Empire or Sacramento? It becomes so apples-and-oranges, it's really difficult to nail it down. Now just replace the first paragraph with *any* metro area/region, and you start to see the mess it makes. (E.g., can you compare Denver with Boise? Spokane with Kansas City?)

Let’s be honest, there really is no place in America quite like the Greater Salt Lake City metropolitan area demographically speaking. When I was there a couple years ago, I was surprised by how many stations sounded similar with a lot of them being some form of an AC format. Is there even a hip-hop or R&B station on one of the big signals in Salt Lake City? Every metropolitan area is different in one way or another, but SLC is definitely unique!

 

[victorres43]

Let’s be honest, there really is no place in America quite like the Greater Salt Lake City metropolitan area demographically speaking. When I was there a couple years ago, I was surprised by how many stations sounded similar with a lot of them being some form of an AC format. Is there even a hip-hop or R&B station on one of the big signals in Salt Lake City? Every metropolitan area is different in one way or another, but SLC is definitely unique!

Doesn't U92 count?

I must mention that Salt Lake City is currently one of the only markets, if not the only one, with an analog FM signal for 80s new wave/alternative.

 

[asugeorge1]

"Classic Hits" is whatever the market's larger group of potential listeners says it is. There is a fuzzy area between format names and definitions where one can be either of two alternatives; often the difference is more in the talent, the imaging and the rotations than the music itself.

This is sort of like the distinction between CHR and Churban; how many hip hop and rhythmic songs does a CHR have to play to be suddenly considered Churban? So, where does a station stop being classic hits and begin being adult hits?

Why do you say you are CHR? Because I said so.

Agencies and buyers don't sit around saying, "Oh, let's not buy that station because it is more rhythmic..." They buy based on target audience delivery.

This is very true David. There are a lot of times where I am looking through the radio ratings and the station identifies as “oldies” yet they don’t play any 60’s or 70’s music anymore. Or a station calls itself “Adult Hits” as opposed to “Classic Hits” like KOAI in Phoenix, yet they play more older songs than the “classic hits” station in town, KOOL FM. There must be some advantage to calling themselves “adult hits” as opposed to “classic hits,” the chief thing being that “adult hits” doesn’t sound like a station that caters to an older demographic like “classic hits” or “oldies,” even though KOAI is more oldies and classic hits than KOOL FM.

 

[asugeorge1]

Doesn't U92 count?

I must mention that Salt Lake City is currently one of the only markets, if not the only one, with an analog FM signal for 80s new wave/alternative.

Maybe! They might have been on a commercial break when I was browsing the dial there the last time I was in SLC. I just remember hearing a lot of family friendly AC songs on the radio with some country, classic hits and alternative. It reminded me a lot of my travels to Canada (minus the mandatory French stations).

 

[henry]

Doesn't U92 count?

I must mention that Salt Lake City is currently one of the only markets, if not the only one, with an analog FM signal for 80s new wave/alternative.

U92 is a weeeeeeeird abnormality. Which is why the station was so brilliant. A weird mom-n-pop type investor (Chris Devine and Bruce Buzil, I believe) who basically said, "Sure, let's play hip-hop in Salt Lake City" in the late 90s. And it was pretty hard — almost NO R&B tracks. Straight rap. And it was so weird to our ears (I grew up there), U92 enjoyed 10 years of strong success even though its signal sucked.

Example: Sitting in a high school chemistry class ~2001 and having a student point to the period table and see that the atomic weight of Uranium is 92, and asking if that's where the radio station got its name. (Coincidentally, the original logo had a swooping electron looping around the "U", but it was a copycat of WKTU).

Lately, U92 has changed ownership hands a few times. Budgets cut. The playlist softened soooooo much that it basically sounds like a poorly-executed mainstream CHR which plays a couple of bangers. They are trying to chase the "core" SLC audience (cough, white, cough; their top two tracks on Mediabase are Doja Cat— not exactly hard). I think it's backfiring. As ratings sink, they are morphing to sound like every other station in town— super lilywhite. Which is not what made U92 special in the first place.

 

[victorres43]

"Classic Hits" is whatever the market's larger group of potential listeners says it is.

But David, what makes KOLA decide to play artists like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry more frequently than the likes of Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC, given that classic hits stations reach for the latter group of artists when trying to evolve with demographics? Is there something particular about the Inland Empire that makes them do so?

 

[victorres43]

U92 is a weeeeeeeird abnormality. Which is why the station was so brilliant. A weird mom-n-pop type investor (Chris Devine and Bruce Buzil, I believe) who basically said, "Sure, let's play hip-hop in Salt Lake City" in the late 90s. And it was pretty hard — almost NO R&B tracks. Straight rap. And it was so weird to our ears (I grew up there), U92 enjoyed 10 years of strong success.

Example: Sitting in a high school chemistry class ~2001 and having a student point to the period table and see that the atomic weight of Uranium is 92, and asking if that's where the radio station got its name. (Coincidentally, the original logo had a swooping electron looping around the "U", but it was a copycat of WKTU).

Lately, U92 has changed ownership hands a few times. Budgets cut. The playlist softened soooooo much that it basically sounds like a poorly-executed mainstream CHR which plays a couple of bangers. They are trying to chase the "core" SLC audience (cough, white, cough), and I think it's backfiring. Every other station in town sounds lilywhite. U92 didn't.

Looking at the playlist, it looks like U92 has a lot of golds/throwbacks. Almost sounds like a Rhythmic Hot AC a la Hot 96.9 in Boston.

 

[victorres43]

Maybe! They might have been on a commercial break when I was browsing the dial there the last time I was in SLC. I just remember hearing a lot of family friendly AC songs on the radio with some country, classic hits and alternative. It reminded me a lot of my travels to Canada (minus the mandatory French stations).

Still can't help but notice that the only hip-hop station in Canada is Flow 93.5, with Buffalo's 93.7 WBLK serving the Niagara region of Ontario.

 

[JustinSaysRadio]

KOLA seems a lot more like a Gold AC kind of station.

Who would agree with me on that?

 

[davideduardo]

KOLA seems a lot more like a Gold AC kind of station.

Who would agree with me on that?

AC stations tend to have some kind of current and recurrent play, even the ones that play lots of gold. This is simply a classic hits station that found a variant on the mix that works in its market and in the shadow of legendary KRTH.

 

[JustinSaysRadio]

I can see that.

In reality, KOLA is a Variety Hits station that leans dominantly with Classic Hits and Gold but is willing to get its hand dirty, when it comes to newer music.

 

[davideduardo]

But David, what makes KOLA decide to play artists like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry more frequently than the likes of Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC, given that classic hits stations reach for the latter group of artists when trying to evolve with demographics? Is there something particular about the Inland Empire that makes them do so?

Gold based stations don't play artists, they play songs.

And if songs don't test well, they don't get played. The Inland Empire is big enough to do their own music testing, and they found a way to beat KRTH in their smaller and different market.

 

[henry]

The Inland Empire is big enough to do their own music testing, and they found a way to beat KRTH in their smaller and different market.

You know what's a good ad client collaboration? Baker's Drive Thru (Twin Kitchen). I hear often the KOLA morning guy doing voice over inside the restaurant; probably part of the ad buy. Baker's and KOLA both hold "household name" brand recognition out here in the I.E. So it's good to see they have a business relationship with each other.

 

[Huff]

Still can't help but notice that the only hip-hop station in Canada is Flow 93.5, with Buffalo's 93.7 WBLK serving the Niagara region of Ontario.

In addition to the demographics of their respective markets, Canadian stations also have to contend with CanCon (Canadian Content) regulations that are a part of their broadcast license. While they vary by station, they typically dictate that about 1/3 of the songs played during a day must be tracks that are written, performed or produced by Canadians. While there have been notable hip-hop stars from Canada, it's safe to say there have been fewer in the hip-hop world than in other formats, making the format all the more challenging north of the border.

 

[david]

...Their musical playlist reminds me more of a HOT AC or AC station. I think they would be better situated with a moniker of MIX 99.9 if they are truly going to play Lady Gaga, Neon Trees and other songs that are only 10-12 years old.

George - passionately disagree. Retaining a cool, unique name like KOLA, with its strong local brand equity (as Henry pointed out above is super well-known in the IE) is far better than a flipping to a generic name like MIX; a moniker that is so emblematic of the homogenization of the American radio station artform that has sucked away much of what originally attracted most members of this board.